Apparatus for connecting electrical devices



OL 18, 1932. 1 YQLLES 1,883,268

APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING ELECTRICAL DEVICES Filed Sept. 27, 1927 5mm/nto@ Jacoby() l e s aff/tome@ Patented Oct. 18, 1932 PATENT OFFICE J'ACOB YOLLES,

0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO TECHNIDYNE CORPORATION,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING ELECTRICAL DEVICES IApplication filed September 27, 1927. Serial No. 222,225.

This invention relates to an apparatus for connecting electrical devices in circuit; and has special reference to the provision of improvements in the art of connecting electrical devices such as resistance, inductance and condenser elements and the like in electrical circuit combination.

lVhile my invention is applicable in its broader aspects to electrical devices or instruments of a large variety, in the exempliiication of my invention herein described l show the same applied in one of the preferred ways to electrical coils such as are used as inductances or transformers in radio receiving sets. The object of and the advantages resulting from the invention may therefore be explained by a comparison of the method of connecting electrical coils in circuit embodying the principles of my invention with the method heretofore most commonly employed in connecting electrical coil units into circuit relation.

Inthe building of inductance and transformer units designed, for example, for use in radio receiving sets, it is common practice to wind the coil or coils on a winding form made of insulating material, such as hard rubber, bakelite or other molded composition. To provide means for connecting the terminals of the coil or coils to other apparatus in circuit, connectors are aiiiXed to the winding form or coil support; the aliixing of such connectors to the coil support necessitating the tapping or boring of the insulating support and the attachment of the connectors to the support by means of securing elements such as screws or bolts and nuts. To these Aconnecting elements the terminals of the coil or coils are then affixed in any one of a number of ways; and where the coil conductors are of very fine wire, as is commonly the case, the aflixing of the coil terminals is accomplished by means of solder. The connector then serves for attachment to similar parts of other circuit apparatus.

This prior practice of constructing the mounting and connecting means for such coils is attended with a number of difficulties and objections which it is the prime object of the present invention to obviate and overcome.

The tapping or boring of the coil forms or supports and the attachment thereto by means of securing elements of separate connectors entail the practice of assembling steps and the use of parts which are objectionable and which add mounting increments to the cost of manufacture. Of still greater importance, however, is the inefficiency of the connection (soldered connection) between such connector elements and the terminals of the coils or windings. These soldered con nections expose the terminal wires of the coils and when these are comparatively line, they readily break off in use. This is particularly the case when the connector elements are accidentally moved, these connector elements being subject to accidental dislocation by reason of the use of a single securing element therefor. As is well known to those skilled in the art, or even to users of radio receiving sets, the breakage of terminals of these coils presents a very vexing problem for the repairman.

A prime desideratum of my present invention centers about the provision of an apparatus for mounting and connecting the electrical coils in circuit in which these various objections and disadvantages found both in the manufacture and service use of the coils are eectively obviated. The manner in which these objections are overcome and the advantages inherent in the use of my improved apparatus will become more fully apparent as the description of my invention proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and such other objects as willhereinafter appear, my invention consists in the elements and their relation one to the other, as hereinafter more particularly described and sought to be defined in the claims; reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which show the preferred embodiment of my invention, and in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of an electrical coil showing one mode of applying my invention thereto.

Fig. 2 is a view thereof taken in cross-section in the planes of the broken line 2 2, Fig. 1, and

Figs. 3 to 5 are views showing sequential steps employed in the making of coils embodying my invention.

Referring now more in detail to the drawing, and having reference first to Figs. 1 and 2 thereof, the completed coil to which my invention Yis applied comprises a coil form or support 10 which is made of an insulating material such as hard rubber, a phenolic condensation product or generally a molded insulating compound, the said support or form 10 being grooved as at 11 to receive a coil 12 formed by winding the coil convolutions in the groove, the said coil being provided with the terminals 13 and 14 to which attachment is desired to be made. The coil 12, in the form of the invention exemplified in the drawing, is a multilayer coil usedV either as an inductance or as a transformer, the conductor of which is made of very line wire, the problem solved by the present invention lbeing most closely applicable to coils of this character.

In accordance with my present invention, the support or coil form 10 is provided with apart forming a receptacle or small trough 15 for receiving and holding a quantity or gob Of solder or equivalent fusible metal 16, a receptacle or trough being provided for each coil terminal. The receptacle or trough may be formed in any desired way, and in accordance with the preferred method, the same comprises a recess desirably formed duringthe molding of the insulating form 10 in a wall thereof, as shown. The quantity or gob of solder or equivalent thereof forms the means to or in which the terminals of the coil (and connecting means to be de-Y scribed) may be affixed or imbedded.

For connecting the coil in circuit, I preferably provide connectors such as 17 and 18 in the form of ordinary wire of suitable dimensions which are received and held by the walls of orifices or openings 19 and 2O respectively, which openings communicate with the receptacles or troughs 15, 15, so that the terminals 17 and 18 of said connectors protrude or extend into the receptacles 15 and are imbedded in said gob or mass of solder interiorly of the receptacle, as clearly shown, for example, in Fig. 2 of the drawing. VThese connectors 17 and 18 may be made of predetermined sizes, as indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawing, so as to be conditioned for direct connection to other devices of a prearr'anged or pre-designed circuit or set without the necessity of employing any additional connecting leads or wires or any additional connecting elements. Preferably the solder mass or gob 16, 16 protrudes from the receptacle or trough as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the'drawing, so that the top of the solder mass forms a globule or bead projecting above the contiguous wall of the form 10. To this protruding bead portion of the solder, circuit connection may conveniently be made; and as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, the terminals 13 and 14 of the coil 12 are afliXcd to the soldered pieces by being imbedded therein at the protruding or bead portion thereof. Preferably the coil form 10 is provided with guideways 21 and 22 which terminate closely adjacent the walls of the receptacles 15, 15, the terminals 13 and 14 of the coil 12 being .led to the solder mass through said guideways. In this way the coil terminals may be attached to the solder mass by exposing only a minimum amount of connecting wires, as clearly shown in F igs..

1 and 2 of the drawing.

The advantages in construction and use evident from a consideration of Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing will become further apparent upon consideration of Figs. 3 to 5 of the drawing, which show sequential steps in the very simple method employed in assembling or connecting the parts together.

In Fig. 3 I show the winding form 10 before the solder is dropped into the receptacle openings or troughs 15, 15, which latter are, as hereinbefore described, preferably produced in the mold. The form 10 is first bored to obtain the orifices or openings 19 and 20, and is then cut to obtain the guideways 21 and 22. The bores 19 and 20 are made of a diametrical dimension to receive by a close fit the connecting conductors 17 and 18. After the form is bored and cut as described, the connecting conductors are iitted into the bores as indicated by the insertion of conductor 18 into the bore 20; Preferably the terminal of the. conductor connectors, such for example as 18', Vis bent of the drawing, so that this terminal, ap-

propriately tinned for the soldering step forms an attracting point for the solder which is subsequently dropped into the receptacles or troughs.

In Fig. 4 of the drawing, I show the step of applying or dropping the solder or equivalent sealing means into a recess or trough 15, the operation being carried out in the manner indicated without the necessity of holding connecting wires 17 or 18 in posi-- tion. rIhe tinned upwardly bent terminal of the connecting wire forms a local attracting lupwardly as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 indicated in Fig. 5 ofthe drawing. The terminals with extending ends 13 :and 14 are brought up through the .guideWa-ys 21 and 22, and are each laid over the solder gob 16, 16. Upon then 4applying the soldering iron S. I., as indicated in Fig. 5, tension applied to a terminal suchas 13 will cause the same to sink or be imbedded in the protruding portion of the solder mass, as shown for the termina-l 14" in said Fig. 5. After this operation the extending ends 13 and 14: of the coil terminals are cut off at points m, m resulting, in the construction shown in Figs. 1 anfd2ef the drawing.

The vmanner of applying the principles of my invention to electrical coils or other electrical devices will in the main be fully apparent from the above detailed description of the construction thereof and the method steps used in constructing the same. By means of my invention, it will be now seen that I eliminate the steps of boring or tapping orifices in the coil forms or supports for the reception of securing elements such as screws or the like, the receptacles or orifices 15, 15 being preferably formed in the mold and it being unnecessary to bore the same in a separate step. It will be also apparent at this stage that by the employment of the invention the use of separate connectors and securing elements therefor is entirely obviated. In eliminating these parts and the process steps used for attaching the same, I am enabled to start with the ready-made form shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the soldering step, the use of which is exemplified in Figs. 3 to 5 of the drawing, is carried out in a simpler way than the soldering step ordinarily practiced, the conductors 17 and 18 being predetermined or fixed in position. It will be further seen that the coil terminals are imbedded in the soldered masses in such a way as to expose a minimum of the very fine wire used, reducing breakage tendencies due to exposure; and it will be further appreciated that the solder masses 16, 16 are not subject to any turning or rotating tendencies to cause any breakage of the wire from this source of defect. The resulting coil, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, presents a very neat, attractive and finished appearance, and the same may be connected in a predetermined arrangement in circuit without the use of additional conductors necessitated in common past practice.

I have also found it desirable in many cases to substitute ieXible wire in place of the solid conductors 17, 18; and when a iieXible wire is used, the solder forming the gobs or chunks 16, 16 runs down the end strands and stifi'ens the wire so as to form a rigid member where the wire goes through the openings 19 and 20 of the insulating base 10. A very important feature of the invention resides in having one of the plurality of conductors which are' con"J nected to the gob of solder sti enough to keyj the gob of solder formed in the recess and hold the same against rotation. This is accomplished by the use of any form of coni By means of this necting wire 17 and 18. construction it is also apparent that the connecting wires 17 and 18 may be moved and bent without affecting the condition or integrity of the solder gobs 16, 16.

It will be apparent that the principles of my invention may be applied in any of a variety of ways, and while I have shown and described a particular embodiment of the invention, I desire it to be understood that the exempliiication shown and described has been set forth vonly by way of explanation and not by way of limitation. l/Vhile I have shown the invention applied to coils, as aforestated, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the same may be applied to other electrical devices. I desire it further to be understood that by the terminology of the appended claims I mean to include these equivalents. I also desire it to be understood that while I have used such terms as solder, I mean to include any other fusible material which accomplishes the same purpose.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for connecting an electrical device in circuit comprising a support made of insulating material, an electrical device associated therewith, a connector for connecting said device to other apparatus, said support having a wall provided with a part defining a small receptacle, a gob of solder held in said receptacle and protruding therefrom, a terminal of said electrical device and a terminal of said connector being embedded in said gob of solder, one of said terminals being embedded in the protruding portion of the gob of solder.

2. Apparatus for connecting an electrical device in circuit comprising a support made of insulating material, an electrical device associated therewith and protruding therefrom, a connector for connecting said device to other apparatus, said support being provided with a part defining a small receptacle, a gob of solder held in said receptacle and protruding therefrom, a terminal of said electrical device and a terminal of said connector being embedded in said gob of solder, one of said terminals being embedded in said gob of solder interiorly of the receptacle and the other of said terminals being embedded in said solder eXteriorly of the receptacle.

3. Apparatus for connecting an electrical device in circuit comprising a support made of insulating material, an electrical device associated therewith, a. connector for connecting said device to other apparatus, said support having a wall provided with a recess defining a small receptacle, a gobl of solder held in said receptacle and protruding above said its wall, a terminal of said electrical device and a terminal Vof said connector being axed to said gob of solder, at least one of said terminals overlying said wall and embedded in the protruding portion of said gob of solder.

-i 4. Apparatus for connecting terminals of electrical devices in circuit comprising a support made of insulating material, said support being provided with a part defining a small receptacle, a gob of solder in said rej ceptacle defining a bead, the top of which protrudes from said receptacle, said gob of solder forming means to which th-e terminals of said devices are electrically connected, one

l of said terminals being embedded in the protruding portion of the bead of solder.

5. An insulating support, a recess in a wall of said support, a gob of solder therein, two terminals one of which passes through said support directly into said gob and is embedded in the same and thereby retains and prevents movement of the same within the recess, and the other of which passes over said wall and also is embedded in said gob of solder.

` Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 21st day of September, A. D. 1927.

JACOB YOLLES. 

